Keep up-to-date with all that is happening in welfare policy with this curated selection of news – Policy Buzz – published every fortnight.

Policy News

1. The Eleventh Agriculture Census was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. 
2. There are no records on child labour with Ministry of Labour, reported the Parliament Standing Committee on Labour. The lack of data is a result of assimilation of National Child Labour Project (NCLP) with the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in 2016. 
3. To make Minimum Support Price (MSP) more effective and transparent, a 29-member panel has been constituted as per notification by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. 
4. There is a need for single and comprehensive legislation for Metro rail networks in the country, recommended the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs. 
5. A project for saturation of 4G mobile services in the country’s uncovered villages was approved by the Union Cabinet.
6. Guidelines for Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya were released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. 
7. MGNREGS was launched in the Census towns of Meghalaya by the state government. 
8. Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) was expanded to be operational in all Scheduled Languages to increase its outreach to all regions.
9. The third edition of the India Innovation Index was launched by the NITI Aayog. 
10. Norms for adjusting states’ off-budget borrowings were eased by the Union Cabinet.
11. A joint statement on cooperation of global supply chains by the United States of America was adopted by India to strengthen international supply chains.

Health & Nutrition 

1. The first edition of the State Ranking Index for National Food Security Act (NFSA) was released by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. 
2. Fifty-two digital health applications have been successfully integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
3. As many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021, according to the recently published 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI). 
4. Draft New Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022 was released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
5. With 25 million infants not being administered life saving vaccines, vaccination coverage across the globe continued to decline in 2021 according to WHO and UNICEF.

Education 

1. Several education initiatives were launched by the Union Government on the 2 year anniversary of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, including: 
   • Establishment of Indian Knowledge System – Ministry of Education Innovation (IKS-MEI) Cell for promoting traditional knowledge systems for product innovation. 
   • Launch of Kalashala initiative in 750 schools to promote and support local arts and heritage. 
   • Setting-up of  750 virtual labs in science and mathematics and 75 skilling e-labs. 
   • Creation of Vidya Amrit portal, a digital project to scale up the micro-improvements taking place in the school education.
   • Preparation of an initial cadre of high-quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Teachers in Anganwadis through National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) program.
   • Implementation of School Innovation Policy to foster the culture of Ideation, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (IIE).
   • Conducting a Public Consultation survey for National Curriculum Framework in 23 languages.
2. The National Workshop on Post National Achievement Survey (NAS) was organised by the Ministry of Education.
3. Report titled ‘Three Hundred And Forty First Report On Review Of Education Standards, Accreditation Process, Research, Examination Reforms And Academic Environment In Deemed/ Private Universities/Other Higher Education Institutions’ was presented by the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. The report makes several recommendations for reforms in higher education. Read the complete report here.

Other News

1. The proportion of females working part time is more than males in all age-groups, noted National Statistical Office (NSO) in its Working Paper on Compilation of Labour Indicators of Minimum Set of Gender Indicators.
2. The Justice Rohini Commission, tasked with sub-categorisation of the OBCs, was given 13th extension by the Union Cabinet. 
3. ‘Youth in India 2022’ report was released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Read it here. 
4. Report on Digital Banks released by the NITI Aayog. 
5. Access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment declared as a universal human right by the UN General Assembly. 
6. The Global Findex 2021 Database: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19 report was published by World Bank Group. 
7. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 was released by the United Nations. Read it here.  
8. Global Gender Gap Report 2022 was released by the World Economic Forum. 
9. World Population Prospects 2022 was released by the United Nations Department Of Economic And Social Affairs (UNDESA). Read it here.
   
10. First global policy framework on protecting children on the move in face of climate change, ‘The Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change’ released by the United Nations.

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